The S.&P. 500 ended the week up 3.3 percent, its best week since mid-December. Global markets also had a strong week, with markets in Germany and France rising more than 5 percent. In Asia, markets in Japan, China and Hong Kong are up roughly 4 percent each.

Most of the gains this week came immediately after the release of last week’s disappointing jobs report, which sent a signal to investors that the Federal Reserve would hold off on raising interest rates at least for several more months.

That signal was reinforced on Thursday, when the minutes from the September Fed meeting showed that policy makers were too concerned about low inflation and the slowdown in China to raise interest rates.

“In short, we found little to change our view that the first Fed hike will not occur in 2015,” Ajay Rajadhyaksha, head of fixed-income at Barclays, wrote in a report, and the “market has reached the same conclusion.”

One sector that did push higher was airlines. The companies said they flew nearly full flights last month, an important profit driver for the industry. United Continental flew flights on average 82.9 percent full; American Airlines reported its flights were 82.7 percent full.

Shares in the commodities group Glencore rose strongly after the company said it was slashing its zinc production by a third and cutting jobs in response to a sharp fall in the price of the metal.

The move, which will involve a cut in annual zinc production by 500,000 tons in Australia, South America and Kazakhstan, is the latest response by the Switzerland-based company to the slide in commodity prices that has raised concerns over Glencore’s underlying business model.

Investors responded positively and Glencore shares closed up 7 percent in London at 129 pence.

One industrial company that did not do well was Alcoa, the aluminum company, which fell 75 cents, or 7 percent, to $10.26. The company reported a steep drop in profits for its third quarter, citing lower aluminum prices and a strong dollar.

Investors are now positioning themselves for corporate earnings, which pick up steam next week when most of the nation’s largest banks will report their results, along with big companies like Intel, Netflix, UnitedHealth and General Electric.

“Earnings are going to dominate the next few weeks,” said Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management. “Once we get guidance from corporate America, investors will be reasonably more confident about getting back into the market.”

The price of United States oil edged higher on Friday. Benchmark crude oil rose 14 cents to settle at $50.14 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, slipped 40 cents to $52.65 a barrel in London.

In other futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, wholesale gasoline rose 0.9 cents to close at $1.417 a gallon. Heating oil fell 1.1 cents to close at $1.591 a gallon and natural gas rose 0.4 cents to close at $2.502 per 1,000 cubic feet.

United States government bond prices rose slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.09 percent. The euro rose to $1.1354 while the dollar rose to 120.22 yen.